Change the English name
ofOceanodroma hornbyifrom Ringed Storm-Petrel to Hornby's
Storm-Petrel

Worrying about patronyms from the Eisenmann days
is rather hypocritical when the AOU changed the long-established Hornby's
Storm-Petrel to Ringed Storm-Petrel!The former name is
widely used among seabird people (and seabird books) but now some latter-day
Eisenmann has created the blah Ringed Storm-Petrel. I've heard some South
Americans aren't happy about the name Hornby's. In short:

And note that Alvaro Jaramillo, a native
Chilean, uses Hornby's in his guide to the birds of Chile. I don't keep up with
all bird books but the only one I know that uses Ringed Storm-Petrel is the
recent Clements and Shany travesty for Peru.

Are people losing the point here? As in:
Hornby's Storm-Petrel is an ENGLISH name, and to the best of my knowledge the
languages in South America are predominantly Spanish and Portuguese. The
Spanish and Portuguese names can be WHATEVER they want (or should we tell them
what to do?), but now they tell us what to use for English names?

And the adjective "ringed" is not
uniquely attributed among storm-petrels - it could be equally well applied toNesofregetta fuliginosa, as shown by
the photos on p. 97 of Enticott and Tipling's Seabirds of the World.This PC stuff has gone a little far. In a
forthcoming guide to the tubenoses of North America I will be callingOceanodroma hornbyithe Hornby's Storm-Petrel. I suggest
changing back to Hornby's from Ringed before any permanent "damage"
is done.

Steve N. G. Howell, December 2006

NOTE from Remsen: A similar proposal
previously did not pass -- seeProp. 91for additional material

Comments from Jaramillo: "YES - As I
mentioned in the previous version of this argument, Hornby's is the only name I
have ever used for this creature. It is well entrenched in the seabird
literature, and was used by previous works on the birds of Chile (where the
species likely breeds). I have even heard Spanish-speaking Chilean birders
refer to the thing as "El Jornbi" even though the official Chilean
name is "Golondrina de Mar de Collar" equivalent to Collared
Storm-Petrel. I do think that Hornby's has a very long tradition, it is well
entrenched, and Ringed to me seems like something that was invented out of the
blue for no good reason. To me this is quite a different situation from the
Masatierra - De Filippi's issue."

Comments from Robbins: "[NO]. Because of
this proposal, the Committee clearly needs to develop a policy when deciding to
reconsider decisions that have been firmly made. In this case, the Committeeunanimouslydecided (Proposal 91) that the name
Ringed Storm-Petrel was an appropriate English name. Typically, records
committees do not reopen past decisions unless there is compelling new
information. If we use similar criteria, then what is new about this proposal?
Nothing. If we plan to open up all past proposals, then I would like to revisit
the English name forNeopipo,
given the obvious confusion that occurred in making a final decision. How about
those whitestarts?"

Comments from Stiles: "NO. I see
nothing to induce me to change my vote on this one. No new evidence except
entrenched conservatism (?).. Ringed is appropriate and descriptive (nobody
says that it has to be the only ringed storm-petrel and it is the only ringed
one in our area) and in recent decades has been used as widely as
Hornby's."

Comments from Zimmer: "NO". As
noted by Mark, the SACC unanimously voted for "Ringed Storm-Petrel"
over "Hornby's Storm-Petrel" for reasons that were well elucidated at
the time. I see nothing new in this proposal to warrant a change from our
earlier vote. In fact, I find the entire tone of the proposal a bit arrogant
and condescending. In the course of a few thin paragraphs, we are not only
lectured to, but are accused of 1) hypocrisy; 2) losing the point; 3) being PC;
and 4) doing permanent damage. In between, the author manages to blow off
Eugene Eisenmann, dump on Clements & Shany, get in a dig at any South
Americans who might dare to think they should have a say in English names, and
let us all know that regardless of what we decide, that he'll do whatever he
pleases with the name anyway. As a serious, well-reasoned proposal, this one is
pretty weak, but the author does do an efficient job of insulting the maximum
number of people in a minimum amount of space."

Comments from Remsen:“NO, barely.Although I share Howell’s disdain for
the Eisenmannization of many English names of Neotropical birds, and would
personally prefer to almost all of them reversed, I think this one is now too
entrenched in W. Hemisphere, with a track record of 40 or so years, to go
back.I also am missing whatever
point Howell is trying to make on the name being an English name – it’s not as
if we were changing it to “Anillado”.Was it because a Spanish-first speaker Manuel Plenge submitted the
original proposal?Anyway, Hornby
remains commemorated in the scientific name, and “ringed” describes the bird
well with respect to almost all other storm-petrels.However, I appreciate the point that the
seabird people like and continue to use Hornby’s, and that they are the primary
users of the English name, so this is a close call for me.”